Our health, wealth and sanity lay on the line. Do we jump in feet first or stand back and consider the consequences? Right now we'll stand with one foot either side of the knife and see how we roll.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Malaria or Ebola....nothing as fancy

Good god, I've had the lurgy for a week.

Last Tuesday night I crashed into bed with a headache that was shoving my right eye out of my skull. I had a temperature, threw up and gnashed my jaws for 2 hours. Was it malaria? Ever so likely. Eventually I could stand it no more and crawled across the carpeted floor to where my suitcase lay and scratched around for a malaria testing kit. It was 1am. It was also Leo's second night of being in a cot - EVER. Being sick was not on my agenda, especially when attempting the 'cry down' method of getting him to sleep through the night after co-sharing for the past 4 months. I had hoped that being away from Africa would enable me to get our baby not only to sleep in a cot, but to sleep in cot in a separate room. In my mind's painful eye this was about to backfire with bells on.

I pricked my thumb, carried out the test and lay on the floor in the semi-darkness using my phone as a torch. After 10 minutes the negative result showed. I'm not sure if I was relieved or pissed off. So the last week has seen us sniff, cough, bark and whinge at being poorly (to be honest most of those adjectives apply to me, Leo's still too young to be able to string one word together). It's a given that living in the tropics can be horribly tough on your health, especially for babies and the elderly.....OH and for anyone else who happens to be breathing in the air, but ironically returning to British shores during the winter months can be equally as dangerous - there are bugs, viruses, short dark days and everyone's wacky central heating to contend with.

*** I've realised that there is nothing worse than parents who talk smugly of their kid/s not only liking a cot but sleeping in one to make sleep deprived parents go slightly c-r-a-z-y. Over a week ago I'd have wanted to punch me ***